MC exposed on monsoon plans

Satinder Pal Singh

Zirakpur, June 22

Zirakpur residents may have to put up with water woes this monsoon too. Reason: The authorities concerned, as per residents, have failed to take steps for cleaning of drains.

On the other hand, municipal council officials claimed that drain cleaning drives had started before the monsoon. They added that the sanitary wing had deputed nearly 20 workers to extract waste from the drains at some places vulnerable to waterlogging.

Every year, the Zirakpur-Patiala stretch near Lucky Dhaba and the walled city turns into a pool of water due to a poor drainage system.

Already, the pre-monsoon showers have exposed the preparedness of the Municipal Council, which claimed to have made all arrangements a month prior to the monsoon.

Residents of Baltana said the recent rains had exposed the authority’s shoddy work in cleaning drains, which caused waterlogging and subsequently damaged roads.

Even after the inspection conducted by the engineering department of the MC, complaints of waterlogging on various roads during the recent pre-monsoon showers flooded in.

Few open trenches along the Ambala-Chandigarh road near Zirakpur have caused many accidents in the past as many vehicles have fallen into these pits. Locals fear that the arrival of the monsoon would turn the roads slippery, thereby, worsening the situation.

SS Arora, a resident of Baltana, complained that they faced waterlogging and it had become a common sight every year.The authorities never complete pre-monsoon works on time and this leads to chocking of gutters, which in turn causes flooding. “Motorists are the worst sufferers due to flooding,” he added.

Vinay Mahajan, Mechanical Engineer, MC, Zirakpur, said he had already carried out an inspection to oversee the cleaning of drains at some vulnerable points. He added that the authorities were striving to ensure that the town did not face waterlogging and the traffic congestion.

He said the civic body had identified low-lying areas and directions had already been issued to the authorities concerned to prevent accumulation of rainwater.